The Formation of Papal Authority in Late Antique Italy : Roman Bishops and the Domestic Sphere

This book is the first cultural history of papal authority in late antiquity. While most traditional histories posit a “rise of the papacy” and examine popes as politicians, theologians, and civic leaders, Kristina Sessa focuses on the late Roman household and its critical role in the development of the Roman church from ca. 350–600. She argues that Rome's bishops adopted the ancient elite household as a model of good government for leading the church. Central to this phenomenon was the classical and biblical figure of the steward, the householder's appointed agent who oversaw his property and people. As stewards of God, Roman bishops endeavored to exercise moral and material influence within both the pope's own administration and the households of Italy's clergy and lay elites. This original and nuanced study charts their manifold interactions with late Roman households and shows how bishops used domestic knowledge as the basis for establishing their authority as Italy's singular religious leaders. THE FORMATION OF PAPAL AUTHORITY IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 For Chris......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 10 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 12 ROMAN BISHOPS FROM PETER TO GREGORY I......Page 16 INTRODUCTION: HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND THE BISHOP OF ROME......Page 18 OIKONOMIA: AN ANCIENT DISCOURSE OF ELITE MASCULINE AUTHORITY......Page 21 THE FOUR PRINCIPAL DOMAINS OF ANCIENT HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT......Page 26 OIKONOMIA AND GENDER......Page 30 HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT AND THE BISHOP OF ROME: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES......Page 31 WHY THE HOUSEHOLD? TOWARD A DOMESTIC MODEL OF EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY......Page 37 THE ROMAN CHURCH AND ITALY IN LATE ANTIQUITY......Page 42 SOURCES AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK......Page 47 CHAPTER 1 THE LATE ROMAN HOUSEHOLD IN ITALY......Page 52 PRIVATE WEALTH AND LAND MANAGEMENT......Page 54 THE HOUSEHOLD COMMUNITY: THE PATERFAMILIAS AND HIS DEPENDENTS......Page 62 The Wider Domestic Community: High-Status Tenants, coloni, and Slaves......Page 63 The Householders Intermediaries: Stewards and Domestic Agents......Page 64 Late Roman Domestic Authority: More Coercive or Progressively Limited?......Page 68 RELIGION IN THE ELITE LATE ROMAN HOUSEHOLD......Page 71 CONCLUSION......Page 78 CHAPTER 2 FROM DOMINION TO DISPENSATIO: STEWARDSHIP AS AN ELITE IDEAL......Page 80 STEWARDSHIP IN ANCIENT HOUSEHOLDS AND THE BIBLE......Page 82 THE RECEPTION AND REMAKING OF STEWARDSHIP IN LATE ROMAN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT......Page 84 DELIMITING THE HOUSEHOLDER'S AUTHORITY: STEWARDSHIP AS SUBORDINATION......Page 86 Traditional Expectations of the Householder's Ethical and Religious Oversight......Page 89 Stewardship as Intensive Religious and Ethical Oversight......Page 91 THE CHALLENGES OF STEWARDSHIP IN AN OWNERSHIP SOCIETY......Page 100 CONCLUSION......Page 102 CHAPTER 3 PRIMUS CULTOR: EPISCOPAL HOUSEHOLDING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE......Page 104 Hippolytus on Callistus as the Inept Steward of the Church......Page 105 Post-Constantinian Developments: The Bishop of Rome as God's Chief Householder-Steward......Page 107 Bishops as “Ascetic Householders”......Page 108 “Rendering Accounts” for Earthly Members of the Domus Dei......Page 110 Primus Cultor: The Paradoxical Authority of the Episcopal Householder-Steward......Page 111 The Bishop as Trustful Steward of Material Possessions......Page 113 THE EPISCOPAL HOUSEHOLD AT ROME: RESIDENCES, MEMBERS, AND PRACTICES......Page 115 The Bishop's Residences and Administrative Headquarters......Page 116 Membership: Who Composed the Bishop's Household?......Page 118 THE EPISCOPAL HOUSEHOLD IN ACTION: THE CONVENTUS AND THE PATRIMONIA......Page 126 The Bishop's conventus: A Quasi-Domestic Domain of Church Administration......Page 127 The Church as a Property Owner and the Bishop as Administrator: Legal Developments......Page 130 Rome's Patrimonies: Domestic Administration in Action......Page 133 CONCLUSION......Page 141 CHAPTER 4 OVERSEEING THE OVERSEER: BISHOPS AND LAY HOUSEHOLDS......Page 144 THE PROBLEMS AND PERILS OF MARRIAGE......Page 145 Nuptial Blessings and the Veiling of Brides11......Page 147 Ursa's Return: Captivity and Remarriage56......Page 156 Captivity, Return, and (Re)Marriage in Roman Law: The Ius Postliminii......Page 157 Correlating Roman Law and Christian Ideal in a Time of War......Page 158 Innocent to Probus on the Overlapping Domains of Christian Ethics and Roman Law......Page 159 Toward an Episcopal Oikonomia: Leo on Captivity and the “Recovery” of Marriage......Page 162 THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN HOME......Page 164 Areas of Confusion and Contestation: Slavery as Metaphor, and the Christian Slave......Page 165 Giving up Brutality for Lent: Bishops and the Master–Slave Relationship......Page 167 Sex, Slaves, and Marriage......Page 170 Fleeing to the House of God: A New Problem for Christian Slave Owners......Page 172 A PROBLEM OF PROPERTY: ESTATE CHURCHES AND THEIR OVERSIGHT......Page 178 A New Regulatory Culture for Domestic Piety......Page 180 Defining the Villa Church: Roman Bishops and Their Responses to Householders......Page 183 CONCLUSION......Page 189 CHAPTER 5 CULTIVATING THE CLERICAL HOUSEHOLD: MARRIAGE, PROPERTY, AND INHERITANCE......Page 191 MARRIAGE AND THE CLERICAL HOUSEHOLD......Page 194 Embedding the Clerical Household within the Bishop's Church: Marriage and the cursus......Page 196 Living the Laws of Restricted Marriage: Bishops and Clerical Households in Practice......Page 199 THE PROBLEM OF PROPERTY: SEPARATING THE EARTHLY HOUSEHOLD FROM THE DOMUS DEI......Page 207 The Separation of Property in Civil and Ecclesiastical Law......Page 209 Roman Episcopal Responses: Ad-hoc Solutions and Claims to Expertise......Page 213 INHERITING THE DOMUS DEI: DYNASTIC PRINCIPLES AND EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION......Page 216 CONCLUSION......Page 223 CHAPTER 6 MISTRUSTING THE BISHOP: SUCCESSION, STEWARDSHIP, AND SEX IN THE LAURENTIAN SCHISM......Page 225 MISTRUSTING THE BISHOP: A LATE ANTIQUE TRADITION AT ROME......Page 226 THE LAURENTIAN SCHISM (498–506/7): CHARGES, COUNCILS, AND COMMUNITIES......Page 229 The Events of the Laurentian Schism: A Brief Synopsis27......Page 230 Social Alliances and the Public Relations Battle......Page 233 EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION: A DYNASTIC MODEL FOR SIXTH-CENTURY ROME?......Page 236 The Scriptura of 483 and the Council of November 6, 501......Page 239 STEWARDSHIP IN CRISIS: SYMMACHUS, ALIENATION, AND THE TITULI......Page 242 The Ethics of Alienation: When Can You Trust the Bishop?......Page 243 Competing for Trust: Symmachus, the Priests, and the Administration of the Tituli......Page 247 Changing Hearts and Minds: Bishops as Good Stewards in the Symmachan Forgeries......Page 252 DISCIPLINARY FAILURES: SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN THE LAURENTIAN SCHISM......Page 256 Controlling the Body, Managing the Household, and Administering the Church......Page 257 CONCLUSION......Page 262 CHAPTER 7 THE HOUSEHOLD AND THE BISHOP: AUTHORITY, COOPERATION, AND COMPETITION IN THE GESTA MARTYRUM......Page 264 LOCATING THE GESTA MARTYRUM: DATING, AUTHORSHIP, AND AUDIENCE......Page 265 Negotiating Conversion: Exchange and Reciprocity Between Householders and Bishops......Page 269 Transforming the Householder and Preserving the domus......Page 272 Asymmetries of Authority in the Household: Baptism and the Bishop as Ritual Expert......Page 277 No Bishops in the Bedroom!......Page 280 The Bishop's Domestic Competitors: Priests, Deacons, and Holy Men......Page 284 CONCLUSION......Page 288 CONCLUSION......Page 291 STEWARDSHIP: A MODEL OF PASTORAL LEADERSHIP IN A WORLD OF TENSION......Page 296 PRIMARY SOURCE BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 300 SECONDARY SOURCE BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 304 INDEX......Page 330 This cultural history of papal authority in late antiquity focuses on the late Roman household, providing a new interpretation of the Roman church and its bishops during a critical period of development. Moving beyond traditional histories of the 'rise of the papacy', this study argues that Rome's bishops adopted the ancient elite household as a model of good government for leading the church.